Register allocation for clustered multi-level register files

ABSTRACT

A method for allocating registers within a processing unit. A compiler assigns a plurality of instructions to a plurality of processing clusters. Each instruction is configured to access a first virtual register within a live range. The compiler determines which processing cluster in the plurality of processing clusters is an owner cluster for the first virtual register within the live range. The compiler configures a first instruction included in the plurality of instructions to access a first global virtual register.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to parallel computing and, morespecifically, to register allocation for clustered multi-level registerfiles.

2. Description of the Related Art

Computer processors oftentimes utilize register files as a scratch spacefor performing computations. Register files are typically configured forspeed and are typically physically close to clusters of functional unitsthat perform calculations. Some parallel processing systems havingmultiple clusters of functional units utilize a multiple level hierarchyof register files.

A multiple level hierarchy provides some register files at the bottom ofthe hierarchy (“low-level register files”) that are physically close tothe functional units and other register files at the top of thehierarchy (“high-level register files”) that are physically farther fromthe functional units. Values in low-level register files require lesstime and energy to access than values in high-level register files. Forsimplicity of design and for speed, low-level register files may beaccessible only to a single cluster of functional units, whilehigh-level register files may be accessible to a larger number ofclusters of functional units.

While values may be stored in low-level register files to reduce energyconsumption and for speed, values stored in low-level register files maybe needed by multiple clusters that do not necessarily have directaccess to the low-level register files in which the values are stored.Therefore, techniques are generally used to ensure that values that areneeded by multiple clusters of functional units are actually availableto all of those multiple clusters of functional units.

Some current techniques for making values available to more than onecluster of functional units ensure that all values that are utilized bymultiple clusters of functional units are stored in high-level registerfiles to allow more than one cluster of functional units to access thevalues. While storing values utilized by multiple functional units in ahigh-level register file helps to ensure that values needed by multipleclusters of functional units are accessible to those multiple clustersof functional units, accessing high-level register files requires moretime and energy than accessing low-level register files. Further, somevalues that are used by multiple clusters of functional units are usedprimarily by a single cluster of functional units, with some ancillaryaccesses made by other clusters of functional units.

Therefore, one drawback of techniques in which all values utilized bymultiple clusters of functional units are stored in high-level registerfiles is that, although values utilized primarily by a single cluster offunctional units may have only a few ancillary accesses by otherfunctional units, the values used primarily by the single functionalunit are stored in high-level register files. As high-level registerfiles have higher access energy and higher access time than low-levelregister files, employing techniques in which all values utilized bymultiple clusters of functional units are stored in high-level registerfiles may miss opportunities for optimization in terms of reduction ofaccess time and access energy.

As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed in the art is a techniquefor improving the utilization of a multiple level register filehierarchy by multiple clusters of functional units.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a method forallocating registers within a processing unit. A compiler assigns aplurality of instructions to a plurality of processing clusters. Eachinstruction is configured to access a first virtual register within alive range. The compiler determines which processing cluster in theplurality of processing clusters is an owner cluster for the firstvirtual register within the live range. The compiler configures a firstinstruction included in the plurality of instructions to access a firstglobal virtual register.

One advantage of the disclosed technique is that the disclosed techniquecan configure instructions that access registers in a multiple-levelregister file hierarchy such that registers that are accessed often canbe allocated to physical registers in a local register file.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the presentinvention can be understood in detail, a more particular description ofthe invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference toembodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Itis to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate onlytypical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to beconsidered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to otherequally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system configured toimplement one or more aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a parallel processing subsystem for thecomputer system of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a portion of a streaming multiprocessorwithin the general processing cluster of FIG. 2, according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a multi-level register file hierarchyaccording to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 sets forth a flow diagram of method steps for allocating virtualregisters referenced by instructions in a virtual instruction set tophysical registers, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 sets forth a flow diagram of method steps for performing virtualregister partitioning, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 sets forth a flow diagram of method steps for assigning ownerclusters, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 sets forth a flow diagram of method steps for transforming ownercluster write operations, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 sets forth a flow diagram of method steps for transformingnon-owner cluster read operations, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 10 sets forth a flow diagram of method steps for transformingnon-owner cluster write operations, according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram depicting example code segments both beforeand after virtual register partitioning, according to one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a multi-level register file hierarchy,according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram depicting example code segments both beforeand after virtual register partitioning, according to one embodiment ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a multi-level register file hierarchy,according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth toprovide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. However,it will be apparent to one of skill in the art that the presentinvention may be practiced without one or more of these specificdetails.

System Overview

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system 100 configuredto implement one or more aspects of the present invention. Computersystem 100 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 102 and a systemmemory 104 communicating via an interconnection path that may include amemory bridge 105. Memory bridge 105, which may be, e.g., a Northbridgechip, is connected via a bus or other communication path 106 (e.g., aHyperTransport link) to an I/O (input/output) bridge 107. I/O bridge107, which may be, e.g., a Southbridge chip, receives user input fromone or more user input devices 108 (e.g., keyboard, mouse) and forwardsthe input to CPU 102 via communication path 106 and memory bridge 105. Aparallel processing subsystem 112 is coupled to memory bridge 105 via abus or second communication path 113 (e.g., a Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) Express, Accelerated Graphics Port, or HyperTransportlink). In one embodiment parallel processing subsystem 112 is a graphicssubsystem that delivers pixels to a display device 110 that may be anyconventional cathode ray tube, liquid crystal display, light-emittingdiode display, or the like. A system disk 114 is also connected to I/Obridge 107 and may be configured to store content and applications anddata for use by CPU 102 and parallel processing subsystem 112. Systemdisk 114 provides non-volatile storage for applications and data and mayinclude fixed or removable hard disk drives, flash memory devices, andCD-ROM (compact disc read-only-memory), DVD-ROM (digital versatiledisc-ROM), Blu-ray, HD-DVD (high definition DVD), or other magnetic,optical, or solid state storage devices.

A switch 116 provides connections between I/O bridge 107 and othercomponents such as a network adapter 118 and various add-in cards 120and 121. Other components (not explicitly shown), including universalserial bus (USB) or other port connections, compact disc (CD) drives,digital versatile disc (DVD) drives, film recording devices, and thelike, may also be connected to I/O bridge 107. The various communicationpaths shown in FIG. 1, including the specifically named communicationpaths 106 and 113 may be implemented using any suitable protocols, suchas PCI Express, AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port), HyperTransport, or anyother bus or point-to-point communication protocol(s), and connectionsbetween different devices may use different protocols as is known in theart.

In one embodiment, the parallel processing subsystem 112 incorporatescircuitry optimized for graphics and video processing, including, forexample, video output circuitry, and constitutes a graphics processingunit (GPU). In another embodiment, the parallel processing subsystem 112incorporates circuitry optimized for general purpose processing, whilepreserving the underlying computational architecture, described ingreater detail herein. In yet another embodiment, the parallelprocessing subsystem 112 may be integrated with one or more other systemelements in a single subsystem, such as joining the memory bridge 105,CPU 102, and I/O bridge 107 to form a system on chip (SoC).

A compiler 101 may be embedded within device driver 103. Compiler 101compiles program instructions as needed for execution by parallelprocessing subsystem 112. During such compilation, compiler 101 mayapply transforms to program instructions at various phases ofcompilation. In another embodiment of the present invention, compiler101 may be a stand-alone application.

It will be appreciated that the system shown herein is illustrative andthat variations and modifications are possible. The connection topology,including the number and arrangement of bridges, the number of CPUs 102,and the number of parallel processing subsystems 112, may be modified asdesired. For instance, in some embodiments, system memory 104 isconnected to CPU 102 directly rather than through a bridge, and otherdevices communicate with system memory 104 via memory bridge 105 and CPU102. In other alternative topologies, parallel processing subsystem 112is connected to I/O bridge 107 or directly to CPU 102, rather than tomemory bridge 105. In still other embodiments, I/O bridge 107 and memorybridge 105 might be integrated into a single chip instead of existing asone or more discrete devices. Large embodiments may include two or moreCPUs 102 and two or more parallel processing subsystems 112. Theparticular components shown herein are optional; for instance, anynumber of add-in cards or peripheral devices might be supported. In someembodiments, switch 116 is eliminated, and network adapter 118 andadd-in cards 120, 121 connect directly to I/O bridge 107.

FIG. 2 illustrates a parallel processing subsystem 112, according to oneembodiment of the present invention. As shown, parallel processingsubsystem 112 includes one or more parallel processing units (PPUs) 202,each of which is coupled to a local parallel processing (PP) memory 204.In general, a parallel processing subsystem includes a number U of PPUs,where U≧1. (Herein, multiple instances of like objects are denoted withreference numbers identifying the object and parenthetical numbersidentifying the instance where needed.) PPUs 202 and parallel processingmemories 204 may be implemented using one or more integrated circuitdevices, such as programmable processors, application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), or memory devices, or in any othertechnically feasible fashion.

Referring again to FIG. 1 as well as FIG. 2, in some embodiments, someor all of PPUs 202 in parallel processing subsystem 112 are graphicsprocessors with rendering pipelines that can be configured to performvarious operations related to generating pixel data from graphics datasupplied by CPU 102 and/or system memory 104 via memory bridge 105 andthe second communication path 113, interacting with local parallelprocessing memory 204 (which can be used as graphics memory including,e.g., a conventional frame buffer) to store and update pixel data,delivering pixel data to display device 110, and the like. In someembodiments, parallel processing subsystem 112 may include one or morePPUs 202 that operate as graphics processors and one or more other PPUs202 that are used for general-purpose computations. The PPUs 202 may beidentical or different, and each PPU 202 may have one or more dedicatedparallel processing memory device(s) or no dedicated parallel processingmemory device(s). One or more PPUs 202 in parallel processing subsystem112 may output data to display device 110 or each PPU 202 in parallelprocessing subsystem 112 may output data to one or more display devices110.

In operation, CPU 102 is the master processor of computer system 100,controlling and coordinating operations of other system components. Inparticular, CPU 102 issues commands that control the operation of PPUs202. In some embodiments, CPU 102 writes a stream of commands for eachPPU 202 to a data structure (not explicitly shown in either FIG. 1 orFIG. 2) that may be located in system memory 104, parallel processingmemory 204, or another storage location accessible to both CPU 102 andPPU 202. A pointer to each data structure is written to a pushbuffer toinitiate processing of the stream of commands in the data structure. ThePPU 202 reads command streams from one or more pushbuffers and thenexecutes commands asynchronously relative to the operation of CPU 102.Execution priorities may be specified for each pushbuffer by anapplication program via the device driver 103 to control scheduling ofthe different pushbuffers.

Referring back now to FIG. 2 as well as FIG. 1, each PPU 202 includes anI/O (input/output) unit 205 that communicates with the rest of computersystem 100 via communication path 113, which connects to memory bridge105 (or, in one alternative embodiment, directly to CPU 102). Theconnection of PPU 202 to the rest of computer system 100 may also bevaried. In some embodiments, parallel processing subsystem 112 isimplemented as an add-in card that can be inserted into an expansionslot of computer system 100. In other embodiments, a PPU 202 can beintegrated on a single chip with a bus bridge, such as memory bridge 105or I/O bridge 107. In still other embodiments, some or all elements ofPPU 202 may be integrated on a single chip with CPU 102.

In one embodiment, communication path 113 is a PCI Express link, inwhich dedicated lanes are allocated to each PPU 202, as is known in theart. Other communication paths may also be used. An I/O unit 205generates packets (or other signals) for transmission on communicationpath 113 and also receives all incoming packets (or other signals) fromcommunication path 113, directing the incoming packets to appropriatecomponents of PPU 202. For example, commands related to processing tasksmay be directed to a host interface 206, while commands related tomemory operations (e.g., reading from or writing to parallel processingmemory 204) may be directed to a memory crossbar unit 210. Hostinterface 206 reads each pushbuffer and outputs the command streamstored in the pushbuffer to a front end 212.

Each PPU 202 advantageously implements a highly parallel processingarchitecture. As shown in detail, PPU 202(0) includes a processingcluster array 230 that includes a number C of general processingclusters (GPCs) 208, where C≧1. Each GPC 208 is capable of executing alarge number (e.g., hundreds or thousands) of threads concurrently,where each thread is an instance of a program. In various applications,different GPCs 208 may be allocated for processing different types ofprograms or for performing different types of computations. Theallocation of GPCs 208 may vary dependent on the workload arising foreach type of program or computation.

GPCs 208 receive processing tasks to be executed from a workdistribution unit within a task/work unit 207. The work distributionunit receives pointers to processing tasks that are encoded as taskmetadata (TMD) (not shown) and stored in memory. The pointers to TMDsare included in the command stream that is stored as a pushbuffer andreceived by the front end unit 212 from the host interface 206.Processing tasks that may be encoded as TMDs include indices of data tobe processed, as well as state parameters and commands defining how thedata is to be processed (e.g., what program is to be executed). Thetask/work unit 207 receives tasks from the front end 212 and ensuresthat GPCs 208 are configured to a valid state before the processingspecified by each one of the TMDs is initiated. A priority may bespecified for each TMD that is used to schedule execution of theprocessing task. Processing tasks can also be received from theprocessing cluster array 230. Optionally, the TMD can include aparameter that controls whether the TMD is added to the head or the tailfor a list of processing tasks (or list of pointers to the processingtasks), thereby providing another level of control over priority.

Memory interface 214 includes a number D of partition units 215 that areeach directly coupled to a portion of parallel processing memory 204,where D≧1. As shown, the number of partition units 215 generally equalsthe number of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) 220. In otherembodiments, the number of partition units 215 may not equal the numberof memory devices. Persons of ordinary skill in the art will appreciatethat DRAM 220 may be replaced with other suitable storage devices andcan be of generally conventional design. A detailed description istherefore omitted. Render targets, such as frame buffers or texture mapsmay be stored across DRAMs 220, allowing partition units 215 to writeportions of each render target in parallel to efficiently use theavailable bandwidth of parallel processing memory 204.

Any one of GPCs 208 may process data to be written to any of the DRAMs220 within parallel processing memory 204. Crossbar unit 210 isconfigured to route the output of each GPC 208 to the input of anypartition unit 215 or to another GPC 208 for further processing. GPCs208 communicate with memory interface 214 through crossbar unit 210 toread from or write to various external memory devices. In oneembodiment, crossbar unit 210 has a connection to memory interface 214to communicate with I/O unit 205, as well as a connection to localparallel processing memory 204, thereby enabling the processing coreswithin the different GPCs 208 to communicate with system memory 104 orother memory that is not local to PPU 202. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 2, crossbar unit 210 is directly connected with I/O unit 205.Crossbar unit 210 may use virtual channels to separate traffic streamsbetween the GPCs 208 and partition units 215.

Again, GPCs 208 can be programmed to execute processing tasks relatingto a wide variety of applications, including but not limited to, linearand nonlinear data transforms, filtering of video and/or audio data,modeling operations (e.g., applying laws of physics to determineposition, velocity and other attributes of objects), image renderingoperations (e.g., tessellation shader, vertex shader, geometry shader,and/or pixel shader programs), and so on. PPUs 202 may transfer datafrom system memory 104 and/or local parallel processing memories 204into internal (on-chip) memory, process the data, and write result databack to system memory 104 and/or local parallel processing memories 204,where such data can be accessed by other system components, includingCPU 102 or another parallel processing subsystem 112.

A PPU 202 may be provided with any amount of local parallel processingmemory 204, including no local memory, and may use local memory andsystem memory in any combination. For instance, a PPU 202 can be agraphics processor in a unified memory architecture (UMA) embodiment. Insuch embodiments, little or no dedicated graphics (parallel processing)memory would be provided, and PPU 202 would use system memoryexclusively or almost exclusively. In UMA embodiments, a PPU 202 may beintegrated into a bridge chip or processor chip or provided as adiscrete chip with a high-speed link (e.g., PCI Express) connecting thePPU 202 to system memory via a bridge chip or other communication means.

As noted above, any number of PPUs 202 can be included in a parallelprocessing subsystem 112. For instance, multiple PPUs 202 can beprovided on a single add-in card, or multiple add-in cards can beconnected to communication path 113, or one or more of PPUs 202 can beintegrated into a bridge chip. PPUs 202 in a multi-PPU system may beidentical to or different from one another. For instance, different PPUs202 might have different numbers of processing cores, different amountsof local parallel processing memory, and so on. Where multiple PPUs 202are present, those PPUs may be operated in parallel to process data at ahigher throughput than is possible with a single PPU 202. Systemsincorporating one or more PPUs 202 may be implemented in a variety ofconfigurations and form factors, including desktop, laptop, or handheldpersonal computers, servers, workstations, game consoles, embeddedsystems, and the like.

Multiple processing tasks may be executed concurrently on the GPCs 208and a processing task may generate one or more “child” processing tasksduring execution. The task/work unit 207 receives the tasks anddynamically schedules the processing tasks and child processing tasksfor execution by the GPCs 208.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a streaming multiprocessor (SM) 310 withina GPC 208 of FIG. 2, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention. Each GPC 208 may be configured to execute a large number ofthreads in parallel, where the term “thread” refers to an instance of aparticular program executing on a particular set of input data. In someembodiments, single-instruction, multiple-data (SIMD) instruction issuetechniques are used to support parallel execution of a large number ofthreads without providing multiple independent instruction units. Inother embodiments, single-instruction, multiple-thread (SIMT) techniquesare used to support parallel execution of a large number of generallysynchronized threads, using a common instruction unit configured toissue instructions to a set of processing engines within each one of theGPCs 208. Unlike a SIMD execution regime, where all processing enginestypically execute identical instructions, SIMT execution allowsdifferent threads to more readily follow divergent execution pathsthrough a given thread program. Persons of ordinary skill in the artwill understand that a SIMD processing regime represents a functionalsubset of a SIMT processing regime.

Operation of GPC 208 is advantageously controlled via a pipeline manager(not shown) that distributes processing tasks to one or more streamingmultiprocessors (SMs) 310, where each SM 310 configured to process oneor more thread groups. Each SM 310 includes an instruction L1 cache 370that is configured to receive instructions and constants from memory viaan L1.5 cache (not shown) within the GPC 208. A warp scheduler andinstruction unit 312 receives instructions and constants from theinstruction L1 cache 370 and controls local register file 304 and SM 310functional units according to the instructions and constants. The SM 310functional units include N exec (execution or processing) units 302 andP load-store units (LSU) 303. The SM functional units may be pipelined,allowing a new instruction to be issued before a previous instructionhas finished, as is known in the art. Any combination of functionalexecution units may be provided. In one embodiment, the functional unitssupport a variety of operations including integer and floating pointarithmetic (e.g., addition and multiplication), comparison operations,Boolean operations (AND, OR, XOR), bit-shifting, and computation ofvarious algebraic functions (e.g., planar interpolation, trigonometric,exponential, and logarithmic functions, etc.); and the same functionalunit hardware can be leveraged to perform different operations.

The series of instructions transmitted to a particular GPC 208constitutes a thread, as previously defined herein, and the collectionof a certain number of concurrently executing threads across theparallel processing engines (not shown) within an SM 310 is referred toherein as a “warp” or “thread group.” As used herein, a “thread group”refers to a group of threads concurrently executing the same program ondifferent input data, with one thread of the group being assigned to adifferent processing engine within an SM 310. A thread group may includefewer threads than the number of processing engines within the SM 310,in which case some processing engines will be idle during cycles whenthat thread group is being processed. A thread group may also includemore threads than the number of processing engines within the SM 310, inwhich case processing will take place over consecutive clock cycles.Since each SM 310 can support up to G thread groups concurrently, itfollows that a system that, in a GPC 208 that includes M streamingmultiprocessors 310, up to G*M thread groups can be executing in GPC 208at any given time.

Additionally, a plurality of related thread groups may be active (indifferent phases of execution) at the same time within an SM 310. Thiscollection of thread groups is referred to herein as a “cooperativethread array” (“CTA”) or “thread array.” The size of a particular CTA isequal to m*k, where k is the number of concurrently executing threads ina thread group and is typically an integer multiple of the number ofparallel processing engines within the SM 310, and m is the number ofthread groups simultaneously active within the SM 310. The size of a CTAis generally determined by the programmer and the amount of hardwareresources, such as memory or registers, available to the CTA.

In embodiments of the present invention, it is desirable to use PPU 202or other processor(s) of a computing system to execute general-purposecomputations using thread arrays. Each thread in the thread array isassigned a unique thread identifier (“thread ID”) that is accessible tothe thread during the thread's execution. The thread ID, which can bedefined as a one-dimensional or multi-dimensional numerical valuecontrols various aspects of the thread's processing behavior. Forinstance, a thread ID may be used to determine which portion of theinput data set a thread is to process and/or to determine which portionof an output data set a thread is to produce or write.

A sequence of per-thread instructions may include at least oneinstruction that defines a cooperative behavior between therepresentative thread and one or more other threads of the thread array.For example, the sequence of per-thread instructions might include aninstruction to suspend execution of operations for the representativethread at a particular point in the sequence until such time as one ormore of the other threads reach that particular point, an instructionfor the representative thread to store data in a shared memory to whichone or more of the other threads have access, an instruction for therepresentative thread to atomically read and update data stored in ashared memory to which one or more of the other threads have accessbased on their thread IDs, or the like. The CTA program can also includean instruction to compute an address in the shared memory from whichdata is to be read, with the address being a function of thread ID. Bydefining suitable functions and providing synchronization techniques,data can be written to a given location in shared memory by one threadof a CTA and read from that location by a different thread of the sameCTA in a predictable manner. Consequently, any desired pattern of datasharing among threads can be supported, and any thread in a CTA canshare data with any other thread in the same CTA. The extent, if any, ofdata sharing among threads of a CTA is determined by the CTA program;thus, it is to be understood that in a particular application that usesCTAs, the threads of a CTA might or might not actually share data witheach other, depending on the CTA program, and the terms “CTA” and“thread array” are used synonymously herein.

SM 310 provides on-chip (internal) data storage with different levels ofaccessibility. Special registers (not shown) are readable but notwriteable by LSU 303 and are used to store parameters defining eachthread's “position.” In one embodiment, special registers include oneregister per thread (or per exec unit 302 within SM 310) that stores athread ID; each thread ID register is accessible only by a respectiveone of the exec unit 302. Special registers may also include additionalregisters, readable by all threads that execute the same processing taskrepresented by a TMD (or by all LSUs 303) that store a CTA identifier,the CTA dimensions, the dimensions of a grid to which the CTA belongs(or queue position if the TMD encodes a queue task instead of a gridtask), and an identifier of the TMD to which the CTA is assigned.

If the TMD is a grid TMD, execution of the TMD causes a fixed number ofCTAs to be launched and executed to process the fixed amount of datastored in the queue. The number of CTAs is specified as the product ofthe grid width, height, and depth. The fixed amount of data may bestored in the TMD or the TMD may store a pointer to the data that willbe processed by the CTAs. The TMD also stores a starting address of theprogram that is executed by the CTAs.

If the TMD is a queue TMD, then a queue feature of the TMD is used,meaning that the amount of data to be processed is not necessarilyfixed. Queue entries store data for processing by the CTAs assigned tothe TMD. The queue entries may also represent a child task that isgenerated by another TMD during execution of a thread, thereby providingnested parallelism. Typically, execution of the thread, or CTA thatincludes the thread, is suspended until execution of the child taskcompletes. The queue may be stored in the TMD or separately from theTMD, in which case the TMD stores a queue pointer to the queue.Advantageously, data generated by the child task may be written to thequeue while the TMD representing the child task is executing. The queuemay be implemented as a circular queue so that the total amount of datais not limited to the size of the queue.

CTAs that belong to a grid have implicit grid width, height, and depthparameters indicating the position of the respective CTA within thegrid. Special registers are written during initialization in response tocommands received via front end 212 from device driver 103 and do notchange during execution of a processing task. The front end 212schedules each processing task for execution. Each CTA is associatedwith a specific TMD for concurrent execution of one or more tasks.Additionally, a single GPC 208 may execute multiple tasks concurrently.

A parameter memory (not shown) stores runtime parameters (constants)that can be read but not written by any thread within the same CTA (orany LSU 303). In one embodiment, device driver 103 provides parametersto the parameter memory before directing SM 310 to begin execution of atask that uses these parameters. Any thread within any CTA (or any execunit 302 within SM 310) can access global memory through a memoryinterface 214. Portions of global memory may be stored in the L1 cache320.

Local register file 304 is used by each thread as scratch space; eachregister is allocated for the exclusive use of one thread, and data inany of local register file 304 is accessible only to the thread to whichthe register is allocated. Local register file 304 can be implemented asa register file that is physically or logically divided into P lanes,each having some number of entries (where each entry might store, e.g.,a 32-bit word). One lane is assigned to each of the N exec units 302 andP load-store units LSU 303, and corresponding entries in different lanescan be populated with data for different threads executing the sameprogram to facilitate SIMD execution. Different portions of the lanescan be allocated to different ones of the G concurrent thread groups, sothat a given entry in the local register file 304 is accessible only toa particular thread. In one embodiment, certain entries within the localregister file 304 are reserved for storing thread identifiers,implementing one of the special registers. Additionally, a uniform L1cache 320 stores uniform or constant values for each lane of the N execunits 302 and P load-store units LSU 303.

Shared memory 306 is accessible to threads within a single CTA; in otherwords, any location in shared memory 306 is accessible to any threadwithin the same CTA (or to any processing engine within SM 310). Sharedmemory 306 can be implemented as a shared register file or sharedon-chip cache memory with an interconnect that allows any processingengine to read from or write to any location in the shared memory. Inother embodiments, shared state space might map onto a per-CTA region ofoff-chip memory, and be cached in L1 cache 320. The parameter memory canbe implemented as a designated section within the same shared registerfile or shared cache memory that implements shared memory 306, or as aseparate shared register file or on-chip cache memory to which the LSUs303 have read-only access. In one embodiment, the area that implementsthe parameter memory is also used to store the CTA ID and task ID, aswell as CTA and grid dimensions or queue position, implementing portionsof the special registers. Each LSU 303 in SM 310 is coupled to a unifiedaddress mapping unit 352 that converts an address provided for load andstore instructions that are specified in a unified memory space into anaddress in each distinct memory space. Consequently, an instruction maybe used to access any of the local, shared, or global memory spaces byspecifying an address in the unified memory space.

The L1 cache 320 in each SM 310 can be used to cache private per-threadlocal data and also per-application global data. In some embodiments,the per-CTA shared data may be cached in the L1 cache 320. The LSUs 303are coupled to the shared memory 306 and the L1 cache 320 via a memoryand cache interconnect 380.

It will be appreciated that the core architecture described herein isillustrative and that variations and modifications are possible. Anynumber of processing units, e.g., SMs 310, may be included within a GPC208. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a PPU 202 may include any number ofGPCs 208 that are advantageously functionally similar to one another sothat execution behavior does not depend on which GPC 208 receives aparticular processing task. Further, each GPC 208 advantageouslyoperates independently of other GPCs 208 using separate and distinctprocessing units, L1 caches to execute tasks for one or more applicationprograms.

Persons of ordinary skill in the art will understand that thearchitecture described in FIGS. 1-3 in no way limits the scope of thepresent invention and that the techniques taught herein may beimplemented on any properly configured processing unit, including,without limitation, one or more CPUs, one or more multi-core CPUs, oneor more PPUs 202, one or more GPCs 208, one or more graphics or specialpurpose processing units, or the like, without departing the scope ofthe present invention.

Global Register Allocation for Clustered Multi-Level Register Files

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a multi-level register file hierarchy 400,according to one embodiment of the present invention. The multi-levelregister file hierarchy 400 is implemented by clusters 405 and masterregister file 406. The clusters 405 and master register file 406 may beincluded in SM 310 and may replace all or part of local register file304, execution units 302, load-store units 403, and shared memory 306.

Each cluster 405 includes a dedicated local register file 404, one ormore execution units 402, and may include a load-store unit 403.Multi-level register file hierarchy 400 includes X dedicated localregister files 404, Y exec (execution or processing) units 402 and Zload-store units (LSU) 403. The execution units 402 may be pipelined,allowing a new instruction to be issued before a previous instructionhas finished, as is known in the art. Any combination of execution units402 may be provided. In one embodiment, the execution units 402 supporta variety of operations including integer and floating point arithmetic(e.g., addition and multiplication), comparison operations, Booleanoperations (AND, OR, XOR), bit-shifting, and computation of variousalgebraic functions (e.g., planar interpolation, trigonometric,exponential, and logarithmic functions, etc.); and the same executionunit 402 hardware can be leveraged to perform different operations.

All execution units 402 in a cluster have direct access to registerswithin the dedicated local register file 404 in the cluster 405, and donot have direct access to registers within dedicated local registerfiles 404 in other clusters 405. Thus, the multi-level register filehierarchy 400 shown in FIG. 4, execution units 402(0) and 402(1) havedirect access to registers in local register file 404(0) but do not havedirect access to registers in local register file 404(1).

Preferably, dedicated local register file 404 has features that providelow access time and low access energy for registers in the dedicatedlocal register file 404. One features that provides low access time andlow access energy is small capacity. Additionally, dedicated localregister file 404 may be located physically close to execution units 402and/or load-store units 403 within the cluster, to reduce wire energyrequired to access registers within dedicated local register file 404.

A master register file 406 is present and is not included in any cluster405. The master register file 406 includes registers that are accessibleto all execution units 402 in all clusters 405. Further, the masterregister file 406 has features that provide greater capacity than thededicated local register files 404.

Together, the master register file 406 and dedicated local registerfiles 404 implement a multi-level register file hierarchy 400 in whichhigh-level register files correspond to the master register file 406 andlow-level register files correspond to the dedicated local registerfiles 404. Due to the low access time, and low access energy of thededicated local register files 404, values which are used frequently areadvantageously stored in the dedicated local register files 404.Additional values that are used, though infrequently, may be stored inthe master register file 406. Values that are used even less frequentlymay be stored in memory that is external to the multi-level registerfile hierarchy 400 such as L1 cache 320.

Values can be communicated between dedicated local register files 404 inclusters 405 indirectly through master register file 406. To communicatea value from a first dedicated local register file 404 in a firstcluster 405 to a second dedicated local register file 404 in a secondcluster, the value is copied from a register in the first local registerfile 404 into a register in the master register file 406, and thencopied from the register in the master register file 406 to a registerin the second local register file 404. As multiple instructions areutilized to communicate values between dedicated local register files404 in clusters 405, it is beneficial to limit the number of timesvalues are communicated from one dedicated register file 404 to anotherdedicated register file 404.

Execution units 402 are configured to execute instructions in a machinecode. The machine code comprises a set of instructions for execution byexecution units 402, where the instructions may access, withoutlimitation, physical registers located in local register files 404 ormaster register file 406. Compiler 101 (in FIG. 1) accepts instructionsin a virtual instruction set and translates the instructions in thevirtual instruction set into instructions in the machine code. Thevirtual instruction set comprises a set of instructions that may accessvirtual registers. Virtual registers do not necessarily correspond toany particular physical register in local register files 404 or masterregister file 406. Instead, during translation, compiler 101 performs aseries of steps for allocating the virtual registers to physicalregisters in local register files 404 or master register file 406.

FIG. 5 sets forth a flow diagram of method steps for allocating virtualregisters referenced by instructions in a virtual instruction set tophysical registers, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention. Although the method steps are described in conjunction withFIGS. 1-4, persons skilled in the art will understand that any systemconfigured to perform the method steps, in any order, falls within thescope of the present invention.

As shown, a method 500 begins in step 505, where compiler 101 performscluster assignment. In cluster assignment, compiler 101 assignsinstructions in the virtual instruction set to physical clusters 405.One example of an algorithm by which compiler 101 can perform clusterassignment is an algorithm known as the “Bottom-Up-Greedy” (BUG)algorithm, as is known. In step 510, compiler 101 performs instructionscheduling. In instruction scheduling, compiler 101 schedules thevirtual instructions assigned in step 605, as is known. An example of analgorithm for performing instruction scheduling is “list scheduling.”

In step 515, compiler 101 performs virtual register partitioning. Invirtual register partitioning, compiler 101 performs a series oftransforms that modify original instructions in the virtual instructionset that access virtual registers. The results of step 515 are modifiedinstructions in the virtual instruction set that may reference differentvirtual registers than those referenced in the original instructions.Compiler 101 modifies the instructions that access virtual registerssuch that virtual registers can be allocated to physical registers inlocal register files 404 and in master register file 406. The differentvirtual registers in the modified instructions comprise two differenttypes of virtual registers—local virtual registers, and global virtualregisters. Local virtual registers correspond to physical registers inlocal register files 404 in clusters 405 and global virtual registerscorrespond to physical registers in master register file 406. Sincelocal register files 404 in one cluster 405 are not directly accessibleto another cluster 405, compiler 101 also inserts instructions forcopying values between local virtual registers that correspond todifferent local register files 404 in different clusters 405. Step 515is described in more detail with respect to FIGS. 6-14, below.

In step 520, compiler 101 performs local register file allocation. Inlocal register file allocation, compiler 101 assigns local virtualregisters to physical registers in local register files 404. To assignlocal virtual registers to physical registers in local register files404, compiler 101 may utilize an algorithm known as “graph coloring” asis known. If there are insufficient physical registers in a localregister file 404, compiler 101 can “spill” some virtual registers intothe master register file 406.

In step 525, compiler 101 performs master register file allocation. Inmaster register file allocation, compiler 101 assigns global virtualregisters to physical registers in master register file 406. To assignglobal virtual registers to physical registers in master register file406, compiler 101 may again utilize the graph coloring algorithm, as isknown.

The descriptions of FIGS. 6-10 below contain references to a “newvirtual register.” A “new virtual register” is intended as a localvirtual register in a non-owner cluster. If a virtual register is ownedby a cluster, the value from that virtual register may be copied to thenew virtual register so that the non-owner cluster is able to access itlocally. FIGS. 6-14 make reference to the symbol “VRn”, which indicatesa “new virtual register.”

The descriptions of FIGS. 6-10 below contain references to a “non-ownercluster.” A “non-owner cluster” is a cluster to which an instructionthat accesses (reads to or writes from) a virtual register is assigned,but that is not the owner cluster of the virtual register.

The descriptions of FIGS. 6-10 below contain references to a“corresponding global virtual register.” “Corresponding global virtualregisters” are utilized to communicate values between clusters. FIGS.6-14 make reference to the symbol “MVR”, which indicates a“corresponding global virtual register.”

The descriptions of FIGS. 6-10 below also describe steps in whichcompiler 101 “inserts” instructions “before” or “after” instructions.The term “insert” describes a step in which compiler 101 modifies aconsecutive set of instructions by adding an additional instruction in aparticular location. Thus, when compiler 101 inserts a first instructionafter a second instruction, compiler 101 creates the first instructionand places the first instruction after the second instruction in theconsecutive set of instructions. Similarly, when compiler 101 inserts afirst instruction before a second instruction, compiler 101 creates thefirst instruction and places the first instruction before the secondinstruction in the consecutive set of instructions.

FIG. 6 sets forth a flow diagram of method steps for performing virtualregister partitioning, described in step 515 of FIG. 5, according to oneembodiment of the present invention. Although the method steps aredescribed in conjunction with FIGS. 1-4, persons skilled in the art willunderstand that any system configured to perform the method steps, inany order, falls within the scope of the present invention.

As shown, a method 600 begins in step 602, where compiler 101 assignslive ranges of virtual registers in the original instructions to ownerclusters. A live range, as is known, comprises a range of accesses to avirtual register that begins with a write of a value to the virtualregister and ends with the last read of the value from the virtualregister before the next write to that virtual register. An ownercluster is a cluster 405 that is said to “own” a particular live rangeof a virtual register. The result of step 602 is a list of all virtualregister live ranges and corresponding owner clusters.

In steps 604, 606, and 608, compiler 101 transforms originalinstructions that write to and read from virtual registers. Instructionsthat read from or write to virtual registers include, withoutlimitation, any instructions that assign a value to (write) a virtualregister or that read a value from (read) a virtual register, and couldinclude, for example, arithmetic instructions that assign a result to avirtual register (write) as well as read a result from (read) a virtualregister. A single instruction may both write to and read from virtualregisters. Such an instruction is analyzed multiple times, once for eachvirtual register that is the subject of a read or write.

In step 604, compiler 101 transforms write instructions that areassigned to a cluster that is also the owner cluster of the virtualregister to which the write instruction writes. In step 606, compiler101 transforms read instructions that are assigned to a cluster that isnot the owner cluster of the virtual register from which the readinstruction reads. In step 608, compiler 101 transforms writeinstructions that are assigned to a cluster that is not the ownercluster of the virtual register to which the write instruction writes.

FIG. 7 sets forth a flow diagram of method steps for assigning ownerclusters, described in step 602 of FIG. 6, according to one embodimentof the present invention. Although the method steps are described inconjunction with FIGS. 1-4, persons skilled in the art will understandthat any system configured to perform the method steps, in any order,falls within the scope of the present invention.

As shown, a method 700 begins in step 702, where compiler 101 obtains anext virtual register live range. As is known, a live range comprises arange of accesses to a virtual register that begins with a write of avalue to the virtual register and ends with the last read of the valuefrom the virtual register before the next write to that virtualregister. A virtual register live range therefore comprises allinstructions, assigned to any cluster 405, that access the virtualregister in a particular live range. Virtual registers may have multiplelive ranges. Therefore, because the flow diagram in FIG. 7 loops, step702 may be performed multiple times for any given virtual register.

In step 704, compiler 101 counts the number of accesses by instructionsassigned to each cluster 405 for the virtual register live range. Instep 706, compiler 101 assigns an owner cluster to the virtual registerlive range as the cluster 405 to which the most instructions that accessthe virtual register live range are assigned. In step 708, compiler 101checks to see if there are any virtual register live ranges left. Ifthere are virtual register live ranges left, the method 700 loops backto step 702 again. If there are no virtual register live ranges left,the method 700 advances to step 604.

FIG. 8 sets forth a flow diagram of method steps for transforming ownercluster write operations, described in step 604 of FIG. 6, according toone embodiment of the present invention. Although the method steps aredescribed in conjunction with FIGS. 1-4, persons skilled in the art willunderstand that any system configured to perform the method steps, inany order, falls within the scope of the present invention.

As shown, a method 800 begins in step 802, where compiler 101 obtainsthe next write instruction that is assigned to a cluster that is alsothe owner cluster of the virtual register to which the write instructionwrites in a particular live range. In step 804, compiler 101 checkswhether there are any non-owner cluster reads of the virtual register inthe live range. In other words, compiler 101 checks whether there areany instructions assigned to a non-owner cluster of the virtual registerin the live range, that read from the virtual register in the liverange. If there are non-owner cluster reads of the virtual register inthe live range, method 600 advances to step 806. If there are nonon-owner cluster reads of the virtual register in the live range,method 600 loops back to step 802.

In step 806, compiler 101 inserts an instruction, after the writeinstruction, to copy the value in the virtual register to a globalvirtual register. The global virtual register is used to make the valuein the virtual register available to clusters that are not owners of thevirtual register in the live range.

In step 808, compiler 101 checks whether there are any more ownercluster writes left. In other words, compiler 101 checks whether thereare any more instructions that are assigned to a cluster that is alsothe owner cluster of the virtual register to which the writeinstructions write in a particular live range. If there are any ownercluster writes left, the method 800 loops back to step 802. If there areno more owner cluster writes left, the method 800 proceeds to step 606.

FIG. 9 sets forth a flow diagram of method steps for transformingnon-owner cluster read operations, described in step 606 of FIG. 6,according to one embodiment of the present invention. Although themethod steps are described in conjunction with FIGS. 1-4, personsskilled in the art will understand that any system configured to performthe method steps, in any order, falls within the scope of the presentinvention.

As shown, a method 900 begins in step 902, where compiler 101 obtainsthe next read instruction that is assigned to a cluster that is not theowner cluster of the virtual register from which the read instructionreads in a particular live range.

In step 904, compiler 101 checks whether there are multiple non-ownercluster reads of the virtual register in the live range. In other words,the compiler 101 checks whether there are multiple read instructions ofthe virtual register in the live range that are also assigned to thecluster to which the read instruction obtained in step 902 is assigned.If there are not multiple non-owner cluster reads of the virtualregister in the live range, method 900 proceeds to step 906. If thereare multiple non-owner cluster reads of the virtual register in the liverange, method 900 proceeds to step 908.

In step 906, compiler 101 alters the read instruction obtained in step902, such that instead of reading from the virtual register, the readinstruction instead reads from a corresponding global register. Thecorresponding global register is the register that is the target of theinstruction inserted by compiler 101 in step 806. As stated above withrespect to step 806, the corresponding global register is used to makethe value in the virtual register referred to in step 806 available toclusters that are not owners of that virtual register, such as thenon-owner cluster referred to in step 902.

In step 908, compiler 101 checks whether the read instruction obtainedin step 902 is the first read instruction assigned to its cluster. Ifthe read instruction obtained in step 902 is the first read instructionassigned to its cluster, compiler 101 performs step 910. If the readinstruction is not the first read instruction assigned to its cluster,compiler 101 performs step 912.

In step 910, compiler 101 inserts an instruction, before the readinstruction, to copy the value from a corresponding global register intoa new virtual register. Compiler 101 also alters the read instruction toread from the new virtual register, instead of the virtual register thatthe read instruction originally read from. The corresponding globalregister is the register that is the target of the instruction insertedby compiler 101 in step 806. As stated above with respect to step 806,the global register is used to make the value in the virtual registerreferred to in step 806 available to clusters that are not owners ofthat virtual register, such as the non-owner cluster referred to in step902. In sum, in step 910, compiler 101 inserts instructions to bring avalue from the global virtual register referred to in step 806 into anew local virtual register, and alters the read instruction to read fromthis local virtual register.

In step 912, compiler 101 alters the read instruction obtained in step902 to read from a new virtual register, instead of the virtual registerthat the read instruction originally read from. The new virtual registeris the new local virtual register referred to above with respect to step910. Since step 606 is performed on all read instructions, including thefirst read instruction in a non-owner cluster, compiler 101 performsstep 910 on the first read instruction in a non-owner cluster, andinserts an instruction to copy a value from a global virtual register tothe new virtual register as described above with respect to step 910.This new virtual register is also the virtual register referred to instep 912.

After compiler 101 performs steps 906, 910 or 912, the method advancesto step 914. In step 914, compiler 101 checks whether there are anynon-owner cluster reads left. In other words, compiler 101 checkswhether there are any read instructions left that are assigned to acluster that is not the owner of the virtual register from which theinstruction reads. If there are any non-owner cluster reads left, method900 loops back to step 902. If there are no non-owner cluster readsleft, method 900 advances to step 608.

FIG. 10 sets forth a flow diagram of method steps for transformingnon-owner cluster write operations, described in step 608 in FIG. 6,according to one embodiment of the present invention. Although themethod steps are described in conjunction with FIGS. 1-4, personsskilled in the art will understand that any system configured to performthe method steps, in any order, falls within the scope of the presentinvention.

As shown, a method 1000 begins in step 1002, where compiler 101 obtainsthe next write instruction that is assigned to a cluster that is not theowner of the virtual register to which the write instruction writes, ina particular live range.

In step 1003, the compiler 101 checks whether there are any readinstructions assigned to the same non-owner cluster that reads from thevirtual register in the live range. If there are reads assigned to thesame non-owner cluster that reads from the virtual register in the liverange, the method proceeds to step 1004. If there are no reads assignedto the same non-owner cluster that reads from the virtual register inthe live range, the method proceeds to step 1005.

In step 1004, compiler 101 alters the write instruction such that itwrites to a new virtual register instead of the virtual register that itoriginally wrote to. In step 1006, compiler 101 inserts a first copyinstruction, after the write instruction, that copies the value from thenew virtual register to a corresponding global virtual register. In step1008, compiler 101 inserts a second copy instruction, after the firstcopy instruction, to copy the value from the corresponding globalvirtual register, to the virtual register to which the write instructionobtained in step 1002 originally wrote.

In step 1005, compiler 101 alters the write instruction to write to acorresponding global virtual register. Next, in step 1007, compiler 101inserts a copy instruction, after the write instruction, to copy thevalue from the corresponding global virtual register to the virtualregister. By performing steps 1005 and 1007, the compiler copies thevalue written by the non-owner cluster back to the virtual register inthe owner cluster. After performing steps 1008 or 1007, compiler 101performs step 1010.

In step 1010, compiler 101 checks whether there are any more non-ownercluster writes left. In other words, compiler 101 checks whether thereare any write instructions that are assigned to clusters that do not ownthe virtual register to which the write instruction writes. If there arenon-owner cluster writes left, the method loops back to step 1002. Ifthere are no non-owner cluster writes left, the method advances to step520.

As set forth below, FIGS. 11-12 illustrate a first example of how thetechniques presented above in connection with FIGS. 5-10 can be applied.FIGS. 13-14 then illustrate a second example of how the techniquespresented above in connection with FIGS. 5-10 can be applied.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram depicting example code segments both beforeand after virtual register partitioning, according to one embodiment ofthe present invention. FIG. 11 depicts code segments having instructionsin a virtual instruction set that have been assigned to three differentclusters, C1, C2, and C3. FIG. 11 depicts instructions that, prior tovirtual register partitioning, access a virtual register, VR1, within asingle live range, 1104. The instructions shown are either writes,depicted with symbol “W” or reads, depicted with symbol “R.” Writescomprise any instruction that writes a value to VR1. Reads comprise anyinstruction that reads a value from VR1. Other instructions may bepresent, but are not described, and are depicted with the symbol “•”.

Code segments 1102-1, 1102-2, and 1102-3 comprise instructions that havenot been modified by virtual register partitioning. Instructions 1106are assigned to cluster C1, instructions 1108 and 1110 are assigned tocluster C2, and instructions 1112 are assigned to cluster C3. All ofinstructions 1106, 1108, 1110, and 1112 access the same virtualregister, register VR1. Moreover, a live range 1104 for virtual registerVR1 is shown. The live range 1104 extends from instruction 1108, thefirst write of VR1, to instruction 1110, the last read of VR1.

Code segments 1122-1, 1122-2, and 1122-3 comprise instructions that havebeen modified by virtual register partitioning. Instructions 1126 areassigned to cluster C1, instructions 1128 and 1130 are assigned tocluster C2, and instructions 1132 are assigned to cluster C3.Instructions 1126, 1128, 1130, and 1132 correspond to instructions 1106,1208, 1110, and 1112, respectively.

The owner cluster is cluster C1. In code segment 1102-1, there are threeaccesses to VR1 in the live range 1104. In code segment 1102-2, thereare two accesses to VR1 in the live range 1104. In code segment 1102-3,there is one access to VR1 in the live range 1104. Instructions assignedto cluster C1, which are in code segment 1102-1, have the most accessesto VR1 in the live range 1104. Therefore, cluster C1 is the ownercluster of VR1 in live range 1104.

Code segment 1102-1 comprises read instructions 1106. Because cluster C1is the owner cluster, reads assigned to cluster C1, comprisinginstructions 1106 which read from VR1, are not modified. VR1 is a localvirtual register for its owner cluster, cluster C1. Thus readinstructions 1126 are the same as read instructions 1106.

Code segment 1102-2 comprises write instructions 1108 and readinstructions 1110. Write instructions 1128 are a modified version ofwrite instruction 1108. Write instructions 1128 write a value to a newlocal virtual register, VR2. VR2 is a local virtual register that islocal to cluster C2. Write instructions 1128 also copy the value writtento VR2 into VR1, which is the local virtual register for cluster C1.Copying the value from VR2 into VR1 is not done directly, but is donethrough the use of a global virtual register, MVR0. Therefore, writeinstructions 1128 copy the value first to global virtual register MVR0by the instruction “MOV MVR0, VR2” and then to the virtual register VR1by the instruction “MOV VR1, MVR0.” Read instructions 1130 read from thenew virtual register, register VR2, which is the local virtual registerfor cluster C2.

Code segment 1102-3 comprises only one instruction—read instruction1112. Because no other instructions in code segment 1102-3 utilize VR1in live range 1104, read instruction 1132 reads directly from the globalvirtual register MVR0.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a multi-level register file hierarchy1200, according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 12 isdiscussed with reference to FIG. 11. Cluster C1 has local register file1206-1, cluster C2 has local register file 1206-2, and cluster C3 haslocal register file 1206-3. Master register file 1210 is also presentand accessible by clusters C1, C2, and C3. Local virtual register VR1 isassigned to physical register 1208-1 in cluster C1, local virtualregister VR2 is assigned to a physical register 1208-2 in cluster C2,and global virtual register MVR0 is assigned to a physical register 1212in the master register file 1210. Arrows 1214, 1216, and 1218 indicateaccesses of values in physical registers by instructions 1126, 1128,1130, and 1132 (in FIG. 11), assigned to clusters C1, C2, and C3.

Arrow 1214-1 corresponds to instructions 1126, which read the valuestored in physical register 1208-1. Arrow 1216-1 corresponds toinstructions 1128 and 1130. A value is written to the physical register1208-2 in 1128 and read from physical register 1208-2 in 1130. Arrow1216-2 corresponds to the copy instruction (“MOV”) in instructions 1128that copies the value from physical register 1208-2 to physical register1212. Arrow 1216-3 corresponds to the first copy instruction ininstructions 1128, which copies the value in physical register 121 tophysical register 1208-1. Arrow 1218 corresponds to the read instruction1132, which reads from physical register 1212.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram depicting example code segments both beforeand after virtual register partitioning, according to one embodiment ofthe present invention. FIG. 13 depicts code segments having instructionsin a virtual instruction set that have been assigned to three differentclusters, C1, C2, and C3. FIG. 13 focuses on instructions that, prior tovirtual register partitioning, access a single virtual register, VR1,but within two different live ranges, 1304-1 and 1304-2. Theinstructions shown are either writes, depicted with symbol “W” or reads,depicted with symbol “R.” Writes comprise any instruction that writes avalue to VR1. Reads comprise any instruction that reads a value fromVR1. Other instructions may be present, but are not described, and aredepicted with the symbol “•”.

Code segments 1302-1, 1302-2, and 1302-3 comprise instructions that havenot been modified by virtual register partitioning. Instructions 1306and 1308 are assigned to cluster C1, instructions 1310, 1312, and 1314are assigned to cluster C2, and instructions 1316 and 1318 are assignedto cluster C3. All of instructions 1306, 1308, 1310, 1312, 1314, 1316,and 1318 access the same virtual register, register VR1. However,instructions 1306, 1310, and 1316 are in a first live range 1304-1,while instructions 1308, 1314, and 1318 are in a second live range1304-2. There are two live ranges 1304-1, 1304-2 for virtual registerVR1 because there are two different writes to VR1—instruction 1310 is afirst write and 1318 is a second write. The first live range 1304-1extends from the first write 1310 until the last read 1312 before thenext write 1318, and the second live range 1304-2 extends from thesecond write 1318 until the last read 1308.

Code segments 1322-1, 1322-2, and 1322-3 comprise instructions that havebeen modified by virtual register partitioning. Instructions 1326 and1328 are assigned to cluster C1, instructions 1330, 1332, and 1334 areassigned to cluster C2, and instructions 1336 and 1338 are assigned tocluster C3. Instructions 1326, 1328, 1330, 1332, 1334, 1336, and 1338correspond to instructions 1306, 1308, 1310, 1312, 1314, 1316, and 1318,respectively.

For the first live range 1304-1, the owner cluster is cluster C2. Incode segment 1302-1, there is one access to VR1 in the live range1304-1. In code segment 1302-2, there are two accesses to VR1 in thelive range 1304-1. In code segment 1302-3, there is one access to VR1 inthe live range 1304-1. Instructions assigned to cluster C2 in the liverange 1304-1, have the most accesses to VR1 in the live range 1304-1.Therefore, cluster C2 is the owner cluster of VR1 in live range 1304-1.In live range 1304-1, there is only one instruction that accesses VR1assigned to cluster C1. Therefore, instruction 1326 reads directly froma global virtual register MVR0. In the live range 1304-1, the firstinstruction in cluster C2 is write instruction 1310. Therefore,instructions 1330 include a copy instruction to copy the value from VR1to the global virtual register MVR0. Neither the write instruction in1330 nor the read instruction 1332 is modified, as C2 is the ownercluster of VR1 in live range 1324-1. In the live range 1304-1, the onlyinstruction assigned to cluster C3 is a read instruction. Therefore,instruction 1336 reads directly from the global virtual register MVR0.

For the second live range 1304-2, the owner cluster is cluster C2. Incode segment 1302-1, there is one access to VR1 in the live range1304-2. In code segment 1302-2, there are two accesses to VR1 in thelive range 1304-2. In code segment 1302-3, there is one access to VR1 inthe live range 1304-2. Instructions assigned to cluster C2 in the liverange 1304-2, have the most accesses to VR1 in the live range 1304-1.Therefore, cluster C2 is the owner cluster of VR1 in live range 1304-2.In live range 1304-2, there is only one instruction that accesses VR1assigned to cluster C1. Therefore, instruction 1328 reads directly froma global virtual register MVR0. In the live range 1304-2, theinstructions in cluster C2 are both read instructions. Instructions 1334are identical to instructions 1314, as C2 is the owner cluster of VR1 inlive range 1324-2. In the live range 1304-2, the only instructionassigned to cluster C3 is a write instruction. Therefore, instructions1338 write directly to the global virtual register MVR0, and then copythe value in MVR0 to VR1 for the owner cluster, cluster C2.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a multi-level register file hierarchy1400, according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 14 isdiscussed with reference to FIG. 13. Cluster C1 has local register file1406-1, cluster C2 has local register file 1406-2, and cluster C3 haslocal register file 1406-3. Master register file 1410 is also presentand accessible by clusters C1, C2, and C3. Local virtual register VR1 isassigned to physical register 1408 in cluster C1, and global virtualregister MVR0 is assigned to a physical register 1412 in the masterregister file 1410. The same physical register 1408 in cluster C2 can beused for VR1 in both live ranges 1304-1 and 1304-2, because live ranges1304-1 and 1304-2 do not overlap. Similarly, the same physical register1412 in master register file 1410 can be used for MVR0 in both liveranges 1304-1 and 1304-2, because live ranges 1304-1 and 1304-2 do notoverlap. Arrows 1414, 1416, and 1318 indicate accesses of values inphysical registers by instructions 1326, 1328, 1330, 1332, 1334, 1336,and 1338 (in FIG. 11), assigned to clusters C1, C2, and C3.

Arrow 1414 corresponds to instructions 1326 and 1328, which both readthe value stored in physical register 1412. Arrow 1416-1 corresponds toinstructions 1330 and 1338, in which a value is copied from VR1 to MVR0,and in which a value is copied from MVR0 to VR1. Arrow 1416-2corresponds to instructions 1330, which writes a value to VR1, and toinstructions 1332 and 1334, which read the value from VR1. Arrow 1418corresponds to instructions 1336 and 1338, which read a value from MVR0and write a value to MVR0.

In sum, in accordance with the teachings presented herein, a compilermodifies program code that contains instructions to read data from andwrite data to virtual registers, to advantageously allocate virtualregisters to physical registers in a multiple-level register filehierarchy. A multiple-level register file hierarchy comprises physicalregisters and may be implemented in hardware in a streamingmultiprocessor having a plurality of clusters. Each cluster has one ormore functional units for processing instructions. Further, each clusterhas a low-level register file that is accessible directly only by thefunctional units in the processing cluster. A high-level register fileis present in the streaming multiprocessor, and is accessible directlyby all clusters.

The compiler analyzes program code having instructions that read from orwrite to virtual registers and allocates each of these instructions to acorresponding cluster. The compiler then determines virtual registerlive ranges and assigns owner clusters to each virtual register liverange based on the number of virtual register accesses (reads or writes)by each cluster for each virtual register live range. The compiler thenmodifies instructions in the program code that access virtual registerssuch that values in the virtual registers can be stored in the low-levelregister file of the owner clusters. The compiler modifies instructionsthat are assigned to owner clusters and instructions that are assignedto non-owner clusters.

The compiler modifies instructions that are assigned to owner clusterssuch that values in virtual registers that are allocated to ownerclusters are stored in “local virtual registers” that are local to theowner clusters. For instructions assigned to the owner clusters thatwrite a value to the local virtual registers, the compiler inserts anadditional instruction to copy the value from the local virtual registerto a corresponding “global virtual register,” such that the value in thelocal virtual register is accessible to non-owner clusters.

The compiler also modifies instructions that are assigned to non-ownerclusters and that access values in a virtual register allocated to anowner cluster. Specifically, the compiler modifies instructions assignedto a non-owner cluster that read or write values in a local virtualregister allocated to an owner cluster such that the instructionsassigned to the non-owner cluster read or write values from thecorresponding global virtual register instead.

Local virtual registers are later allocated to physical registers inlow-level register files, while global virtual registers are laterallocated to physical registers in high-level register files.

One advantage of the techniques provided herein is that the disclosedtechnique can configure instructions that access registers in amultiple-level register file hierarchy such that registers that areaccessed often can be allocated to physical registers in a localregister file.

One embodiment of the invention may be implemented as a program productfor use with a computer system. The program(s) of the program productdefine functions of the embodiments (including the methods describedherein) and can be contained on a variety of computer-readable storagemedia. Illustrative computer-readable storage media include, but are notlimited to: (i) non-writable storage media (e.g., read-only memorydevices within a computer such as compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM)disks readable by a CD-ROM drive, flash memory, read only memory (ROM)chips or any type of solid-state non-volatile semiconductor memory) onwhich information is permanently stored; and (ii) writable storage media(e.g., floppy disks within a diskette drive or hard-disk drive or anytype of solid-state random-access semiconductor memory) on whichalterable information is stored.

The invention has been described above with reference to specificembodiments. Persons of ordinary skill in the art, however, willunderstand that various modifications and changes may be made theretowithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention asset forth in the appended claims. The foregoing description and drawingsare, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than arestrictive sense.

Therefore, the scope of embodiments of the present invention is setforth in the claims that follow.

The claimed invention is:
 1. A method of allocating registers within aprocessing unit, the method comprising: assigning a plurality ofinstructions to a plurality of processing clusters, wherein eachinstruction is configured to access a first virtual register within alive range; determining which processing cluster in the plurality ofprocessing clusters is an owner cluster for the first virtual registerwithin the live range; and configuring a first instruction included inthe plurality of instructions to access a first global virtual register,wherein the first instruction is assigned to the owner cluster.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first instruction is configured toimplement a write operation to the first virtual register.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein: the first instruction has a corresponding locationin a program control flow; and configuring the first instructioncomprises: determining that an instruction assigned to a non-ownercluster is configured to implement a read operation from the firstvirtual register; and inserting a copy instruction after thecorresponding location in the program control flow of the firstinstruction, wherein the copy instruction is configured to implement acopy operation that copies a value in the first virtual register to thefirst global virtual register.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst instruction is configured to implement a write operation to thefirst virtual register and is assigned to a non-owner cluster.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein: the first instruction has a correspondinglocation in a program control flow; and configuring the firstinstruction comprises: configuring the first instruction to implement awrite operation to a second virtual register; inserting a first copyinstruction after the corresponding location in the program control flowof the first instruction, wherein the first copy instruction isconfigured to implement a copy operation that copies a value in thesecond virtual register to the first global virtual register; andinserting a second copy instruction, after the first copy instruction,wherein the second copy instruction is configured to implement a copyoperation that copies a value in the first global virtual register tothe first virtual register.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstinstruction is configured to implement a read operation from the firstvirtual register and is assigned to a non-owner cluster.
 7. The methodof claim 6, wherein configuring the first instruction comprises:determining that there is only one read instruction that is configuredto implement a read operation from the first virtual register and thatis assigned to the non-owner cluster in the live range; and configuringthe first instruction to implement a read operation from the firstglobal virtual register.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein: the firstinstruction has a corresponding location in a program control flow; andconfiguring the first instruction comprises: determining that there is aplurality of read instructions that are configured to read from thefirst virtual register in the live range and that are assigned to thenon-owner cluster; inserting a first copy instruction before thecorresponding location in the program control flow of the firstinstruction, wherein the first copy instruction is configured to copy avalue in the first global register to a second virtual register; andconfiguring the plurality of read instructions to implement a readoperation from the second virtual register.
 9. The method of claim 1,further comprising allocating the first virtual register to a physicalregister in the owner cluster.
 10. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause acomputer system to allocate registers within a processing unit, byperforming the steps of: assigning a plurality of instructions to aplurality of processing clusters, wherein each instruction is configuredto access a first virtual register within a live range; determiningwhich processing cluster in the plurality of processing clusters is anowner cluster for the first virtual register within the live range; andconfiguring a first instruction included in the plurality ofinstructions to access a first global virtual register, wherein thefirst instruction is assigned to the owner cluster.
 11. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the firstinstruction is configured to implement a write operation to the firstvirtual register.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 11, wherein: the first instruction has a corresponding location ina program control flow; and configuring the first instruction comprises:determining that an instruction assigned to a non-owner cluster isconfigured to implement a read operation from the first virtualregister; and inserting a copy instruction after the correspondinglocation in the program control flow of the first instruction, whereinthe copy instruction is configured to implement a copy operation thatcopies a value in the first virtual register to the first global virtualregister.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10,wherein the first instruction is configured to implement a writeoperation to the first virtual register and is assigned to a non-ownercluster.
 14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13,wherein: the first instruction has a corresponding location in a programcontrol flow; and configuring the first instruction comprises:configuring the first instruction to implement a write operation to asecond virtual register; inserting a first copy instruction after thecorresponding location in the program control flow of the firstinstruction, wherein the first copy instruction is configured toimplement a copy operation that copies a value in the second virtualregister to the first global virtual register; and inserting a secondcopy instruction, after the first copy instruction, wherein the secondcopy instruction is configured to implement a copy operation that copiesa value in the first global virtual register to the first virtualregister.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10,wherein the first instruction is configured to implement a readoperation from the first virtual register and is assigned to a non-ownercluster.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15,wherein configuring the first instruction comprises: determining thatthere is only one read instruction that is configured to implement aread operation from the first virtual register and that is assigned tothe non-owner cluster in the live range; and configuring the firstinstruction to implement a read operation from the first global virtualregister.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15,wherein: the first instruction has a corresponding location in a programcontrol flow; and configuring the first instruction comprises:determining that there is a plurality of read instructions that areconfigured to read from the first virtual register in the live range andthat are assigned to the non-owner cluster; inserting a first copyinstruction before the corresponding location in the program controlflow of the first instruction, wherein the first copy instruction isconfigured to copy a value in the first global register to a secondvirtual register; and configuring the plurality of read instructions toimplement a read operation from the second virtual register.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprisingallocating the first virtual register to a physical register in theowner cluster.
 19. A computing device for allocating registers within aprocessing unit, the computing device comprising: a processor; and amemory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory includes a compilerhaving instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause theprocessor to: assign a plurality of instructions to a plurality ofprocessing clusters, wherein each instruction is configured to access afirst virtual register within a live range; determine which processingcluster in the plurality of processing clusters is an owner cluster forthe first virtual register within the live range; and configure a firstinstruction included in the plurality of instructions to access a firstglobal virtual register, wherein the first instruction is assigned tothe owner cluster.
 20. The computing device of claim 19, wherein: thefirst instruction is configured to implement a write operation to thefirst virtual register; the first instruction has a correspondinglocation in a program control flow; and configuring the firstinstruction comprises: determining that an instruction assigned to anon-owner cluster is configured to implement a read operation from thefirst virtual register; and inserting a copy instruction after thecorresponding location in the program control flow of the firstinstruction, wherein the copy instruction is configured to implement acopy operation that copies a value in the first virtual register to thefirst global virtual register.
 21. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause acomputer system to allocate registers within a processing unit, byperforming the steps of: assigning a plurality of instructions to aplurality of processing clusters, wherein each instruction is configuredto access a first virtual register within a live range; determiningwhich processing cluster in the plurality of processing clusters is anowner cluster for the first virtual register within the live range; andconfiguring a first instruction included in the plurality ofinstructions to access a first global virtual register configuring afirst instruction included in the plurality of instructions to access afirst global virtual register, wherein the first instruction isconfigured to implement a write operation to the first virtual registerand is assigned to the owner cluster.